This time of year all the thunderstorms and tornado warnings remind me of a weather event I was happy to survive in my younger days.
After college I worked in the field of residential construction for about a year and a half. The company I worked for had a large free-standing garage/shed where it stored its work vehicles, extra equipment, etc. I’d usually drive my car to this place in the mornings and switch vehicles, trading my car for the company vehicle. It was this beat-up white van with a roof rack. It was the kind that only had windows in the driver and passenger doors, along with the windshield and windows in the back doors. The interior of the van had a whole bunch of shelves and hooks installed, with all kinds of equipment rolling or swinging around as we drove. There were only two actual seats inside, and whenever we had a third guy, he’d sit in the back on an upside-down 5-gallon bucket (affectionately called “the bucket seat”). The van kind of looked like something a stoner would drive in a Cheech and Chong movie, so one of the guys started calling it the “Cheeba Van” and the name stuck.
One time we wrapped up work at the jobsite for the day and started heading our separate ways. As I drove back to the garage the sky started turning pretty ominous, and got dark very quickly. Before I traveled very far, rain started pouring down in sheets. Traffic on the road slowed way down, and that familiar tone from the emergency broadcast system came on the radio. “Severe storms in the area, with the potential for tornadic activity.”
I kept driving, turning onto a smaller road I usually took to get back to the garage. It was still windy and pouring rain as I drove along, and I came across a tree that had fallen and blocked the road. Not really knowing what else to do, I backed up and turned around, then started using an alternate route to get where I wanted to go. Before long I came upon another tree blocking the road. It’s like these things were coming down so frequently, emergency services crews didn’t even know about them (and this was in the good old days before I had a cell phone to report them).
Running out of passable roads, I tried yet another route. I was driving very cautiously now, half expecting to encounter a third road-blocking obstacle. Happily, this road allowed me to get to the garage, and even though it was still raining pretty hard, I breathed a sigh of relief as I turned onto the gravel driveway to swap vehicles. I was thankful the garage was large enough for both vehicles to fit inside without having to come out in the rain. I got close to the building and hit the garage door opener…but nothing happened. Trying again, then again, it became obvious the power was out, and the door wouldn’t be opening anytime soon. Sitting there with pursed lips and the windshield wipers still on high, I pondered my next move. Looks like I was driving the Cheeba van home tonight. It didn’t look real great parked in the driveway.
I found out later a weak tornado had touched down in the area early in my route back to the garage. I missed the worst of it by a few minutes, but I dealt with some of the carnage on roads in nearby areas.
We don’t often think about it, but it’s kind of fun to see just how easily the Lord can funnel you in the direction He wants you to go. I was very familiar with the area; these were roads I traveled while riding a school bus, and I first learned how to drive on them. There were at least half a dozen ways to get to where I was trying to go. I don’t know that the Lord had a purpose for pushing me in certain directions (other than for this illustration, perhaps), but He said “Nope, I don’t want you to go that way.” “Now I want you over here.”
As God steers your life along and diverts you from your planned route in the process, it can be easy to focus on the inconvenience of having to be flexible. Sometimes the derailment is relatively minor and it’s not a big deal even an hour later; other times you have to mourn the loss of what you imagined the future would be like, and that’s an incredibly difficult thing. Though it might take a long time to accept, God always has been, and always will be, in control of the situation. He’s steering you toward His desired outcome, using your story for the eventuality He wants.
Lord, it can be a hard thing to accept that when Your will differs from mine, Yours always wins. Sometimes these differences aren’t a big deal, but others can feel soul-crushing. Help me have the right attitude through it all. Please give me patience, mental strength, and a humble heart as I work on accepting that You don’t need my permission to guide the events and circumstances of my life. Amen.